All eras in my collection are mixed together and displayed that way. ARAH, NS, 25A- all shown together.

Although proportions and articulation points have changed through the years, a good figure is still a good figure. The '84 Recondo may not be as tall as the 25A Scarlett or as detailed as the (non-ninja) NS Snake-Eyes, but Recondo will always be golden in its own right.

One of the drawbacks of displaying the more current figures with the older ones is that it really draws out the suckiness of the older ones. Some figures just look very, very bad these days.

At the top of my list:

'83 Hooded Cobra Commander. That's one deformed looking head.

'83 Wild Bill. Big head.

ARAH Ripper. Again, it's a strange head.

Too many NS figures to name. All of them with the long legs and short torsos.

Which figures do you find it difficult to appreciate now?

Almost all ARAH figs look really REALLY bad next to their 25th Anniversary counterparts. It's pretty embarrassing.

Not that I love them any less, but I feel kinda bad for them.

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83-84 I love them because of the nostalgia, but blank faces and little articulation is just sad nowadays.

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yeah, Most of the 833-85 line looks inferior to their 25th counterparts,... especially the cobra troopers and Firefly.

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Honestly, I don't see them as good 'in comparison'. A good fig is a good fig, regardless of who's standing next to him/her/it. The figs I hate now are the same ones I've always hated; like the 82/83 figs and all the comic pack figs using their parts, all the JvC figs with deformed incompetent-sculptor proportions, and frankly the just-badly-done 25A figs like GungHo and the Viper where pretty much every single piece needs to be resculpted from scratch.

And the figs I loved then I still love today; and I don't expect either opinion to change simply due to the passage of time.

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I've always sort of felt that the 1986 Roadblock just was -- perhaps not as neatly or precisely sculpted as it could/should have been.

Some of the comic-based sets were less than impressive. I especially was not impressed with the headsculpts and color choices on the Hawk/Flint/Tunnel Rat set.

The G.I.Joe Infantry six-pack - uggggh. Couple other six-packs I could name didn't live up to their potential, either, but that one...

These were not so much ones that has trouble standing the test of time, however -- they had their shortcomings to begin with. Unfortunately.

Dreadnocks - I live the 25th Anniv Buzzer because he just looks like a street thug, but the rest of the torn shirt/punk look just seems out of place. Haven't bought the 25th comic pack because they just don't do anything for me anymore. Anyone wanna buy some DTC comic-pack dreadnocks.

Changing perspective, I recently picked up a '83 Flash and Steeler. That is one of my all-time favorite headsculpts - yes, I'm sure its just due to nostalgia. I opened the package, and giggled with girlish glee. I showed it to my daughter, who usually gets as excited as me for new toys. "Eh, those are just ugly!"

The original Serpentor, actually, which is a shame. The figure just doesn’t feel like its meant to be moved around. It lacks the all important ‘playability factor’. Something about the gold plastic caused his foot to become very loose if bent. It happened to me twice, my childhood Serpentor and one I got off of ebay.

Yeah, be SUPER careful with any v1 Serpentor...gold plastic syndrome hits that figure hard. Just trying to position my childhood Serpy, he lost an arm at the shoulder joint. And that was about two years ago. I don't dare move any of his joints now...which is a shame, because he's one of my favorite figures ever.

As far as not standing the test of time...Lady Jaye. I never thought the headsculpt was great, but with ever subsequent female figure released, LJ seemed to get uglier and uglier retroactively.

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What figure hasn't stood the test of time for me is Zartan. Now this is my third (or fourth?) Zartan v1 and I have been fortunate enough not to have either his thumb, crotch, or heel break on me yet. This guy is as brittle as they come. And believe it or not, I'm not impressed with his 25th figure either. I hope they remake him down the line at some point.

But that's all to do with the plastic's condition, for looks - well the HISS Driver never did it for me back in '83 nor does his 25th (while I admit it is a major improvement).

Still, unless he's done in 25th-style, Recondo is iconic - that's one cool looking action figure.

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ARAH Zaranna. That head is just completely fugly

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For me - most of these figures were lame already (hooded Cmdr - so disappointed by that head when it came in the mail), or are still awesome, in my opinion...


Although "Ripper" - totally true to me. Thought it was cool at the time, now that head is a joke to me. Sci-Fi '86 - first to buy at the time, now - silly. Also true about most of BF 2000 (though, I love the characters) - Fast Draw... Airtight, I hate to say (pretty much anyone with a sculpted helmet, except maybe Barbecue or Cobras) / V1 Crazylegs I go back and forth on. That red is tough to deal with. Psyche-Out, if he was ever cool.

V1 Destro, Baroness, Firefly - very less cool. Toy taste is funny. It so depends on what's in the rest of your collection, I think.

Battle Force 2000. There is nothing futuristic about them anymore.

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actually 83 big head wild bill should fit in fine with 08 shrunken head bill

Battle Force could also make the top of my "biggest letdown" list, all because of their supposed 'fortress.' I thought it would at least click together or something, but no, you just set all of the pieces near each other. Whee.

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